The Purple Hair Tie
by pinkconchshell
Summary: What would you do if you discovered that you'd been on a wonderous adventure and forgotten everything, only to be left with one litte reminder? Eventually turns into a Haku/Chihiro sap-fest, so I'm warning you now. This may yet be my longest oneshot ever


The Purple Hair-Tie

Yes, I know I should be working on my Channy challenge, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone. And for once, I'm not doing it for reviews; I'm writing it to get it out of my head. Spirited Away was amazing!!

I do not own anything.

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"Why do you always draw dragons so much?" Haruye asked, nodding at the vividly detailed sketches on her best friend's ecology homework.

Chihiro's head snapped up at the word 'dragons.' "Huh?" she asked, looking like she had just been jerked out of a deep reverie.

"And you're always daydreaming about something, which means making us repeat everything we say," Koji added, brushing his silky brown hair out of his dark eyes.

"Is there something wrong, Chihiro?" Haruye asked gently, scooting her desk so that it was closer to her friend's. Chihiro shook her head, smiling sheepishly.

"No, nothing's wrong, I was just having a weird moment. You know me." She said with a cute grin. Koji and Haruye smiled back at her, but it was with delicately hidden concern for their friend.

Chihiro bent down over her homework, adding shining white scales to her dragon. Somehow, it was always the same dragon, no matter how hard she tried to make her drawings different. She plucked at the glittering purple hair-tie around her wrist, chewing at her lip as she sketched in the intense green eyes.

"Alright class, before the bell rings, just remember that tomorrow is our field trip to the Kohaku River. Before they knocked out all those apartments by popular vote a few years back, can anybody tell me what the prime habitation was that resided in the foliage?"

"You are gonna go, right Chihiro?" Saniiro whispered to her from the seat behind her. She turned to look at him, as did all the girls in the class, before sending him one of her famous charming smiles and reassuring him that she was, indeed, going with the class to study the Kohaku River.

On past occasions, Chihiro had shown contempt about going on the field trip. Something about that river felt so familiar that she couldn't help feeling a bit fearful whenever it crossed her mind. Which it seemed to do quite a bit, much to her dislike. It had that same strange calling sensation that the old red building in the woods had whenever she went down to visit it. She still couldn't explain to herself what these connections were, or why they were there, but she tried to avoid them both as often as she could.

The only reason Chihiro had given into her friends' pleas of accompaniment was because of the recent dreams she'd experienced. She still remembered them so vividly: The frail but kindly old witch that smelled like rice cakes, the intimidating shadows that seemed to throb around her like lost demons, masks with no faces, a bridge at sunset, a pigpen filled with squealing livestock, and a wind on her face as she fell through a sky of diamonds with an inexplicable warmth. She couldn't tell any of her hundreds of friends though, or even her two closest ones, why she took such comfort these dreams. And they had been happening more and more recently; even sneaking up on her when she was napping in government.

Saniiro caught up with Chihiro, Haruye, and Koji after the bell rang for the last period. A group of nearby girls shot Chihiro filthy looks as he fell into step beside the three friends.

"We'll be at my house, Chihiro," Haruye said with a meaningful look at her friend. She seized Koji's arm and dragged him down the street. They could hear him protesting loudly the entire way. Chihiro giggled.

"Are they finally going out now, then?" Saniiro asked distractedly. Chihiro shook her head.

"No, but they've both admitted to me how much they love each other. I haven't told anyone because it's too funny to watch them go back and forth at each other like that." Chihiro grinned.

Saniiro joined in with her laughter, but she could sense some kind of hysterical, nervous note in his voice. She turned to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting down at the bus stop.

Saniiro seemed to grow even more uncomfortable. "Nothing, really, it's just that I feel kind of scared right now."

"Scared?" Chihiro asked, confused. "Of what?"

Saniiro stared at her for a long while, and then he seemed to stand up straighter, and there was a determined look in his eye, but his voice was still slightly uncertain under the canopy of confidence he dressed it with. "Chihiro, I don't really know how to tell you this, but-"

"Oh, my God!" Chihiro screeched, jumping up. "I forgot – I'm late! Oh, I have to go, I'm sorry, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She snatched up her stuff and ran down the grassy path, not stopping until she reached the bottom of the hill. Foolishly, she looked back to see if Saniiro was following her, but she knew that he would have gone home by now.

Chihiro plopped down next to the tiny stone shrines. She looked up at her blue house on the end, her heart pounding. Her mother was going to be so angry now, since she off and fled the bus stop. But Chihiro needed to go now, for some reason. This happened often, that strange pull down towards the old red building. It was something that she never seemed to be able to ignore.

Poor Saniiro, Chihiro thought as she walked. It's not that she didn't like him, he was tons of fun to be around, and she considered him one of her core friends. But ever since the start of tenth grade he'd been showing signs of liking her as more than that, and for some reason it made Chihiro feel guilty somewhere in the back of her mind.

The trees were beginning to thin, and about five minutes later she could see the figure of the frumpy stone statue up ahead. She stopped right next to it, reveling in the fact that she could now look down at it. It was still smiling widely, but it looked withered and worn, and she remembered that the last time she had been down here was on a midnight trip some three months ago.

Chihiro walked closer towards the entrance to the old red tunnel. As always, the wind began to pick up, and she felt the pull, subtly ushering her into the dark space inside the tunnel. She walked right up to the edge, but did not set foot inside, feeling an instinct that she shouldn't.

It wasn't that the red building was foreboding. No, actually, what frightened Chihiro was that it was quite the opposite of that. It seemed quite welcoming, like it recognized her from somewhere. Like it was greeting her. She shivered slightly, and suddenly a flash of an image of her falling downward at top speed interrupted her thoughts. She shook her head, blinking, and, seeing how low the sun was in the sky, gave a start. She looked at her watch, gasped at the time, and began sprinting back up the bath, taking the harder but shorter way up the hill to her house. It was now six thirty in the evening. She'd spent three solid hours down there at the building. Her mother was going to be furious.

Gasping, she skidded to a stop in front of her porch, right in front of her waiting mother. She had her arms folded, her foot was tapping the ground, and there was a glare on her face that seemed to turn Chihiro's insides to stone. She flinched.

"Onigo Chihiro," her mother said in a terrifying, low voice. "Where have you been?"

"Down by the red building in the forest," Chihiro answered, regaining her composure. Her voice was quite fearless as she looked her straight in the eye. She could see the dark silhouette of her father behind the screen door, and stood up straighter, tossing her hair back proudly.

"And what have I told you about going there?" her mother hissed as Chihiro's father joined them on the porch with a quiet thud of footsteps.

"That the building gives you bad vibes and you don't want me down there," Chihiro answered, casually leaning against the post.

Her mother glared at her and then spoke in an angry undertone. "If you go down there one more time, then I'm taking away your art supplies."

Horror washed through Chihiro as the words sunk in. Her eyes widened and her arm slipped off the post as she gazed up at her mom in terror.

"You wouldn't," Chihiro whispered like it was a death sentence. Her mother stared back coldly as her father quietly placed a soothing hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Yes, I would. You spend more time painting than with your friends anyway, Chihiro-san. I'm getting worried about you. Always running around in the woods and coming back and cooping yourself up in that stuffy old studio. When was the last time you spent any time with Haruye or Koji?" Mrs. Onigo shot at her. Chihiro groaned.

"I spend time with them every Friday, mom, you know we always go to the movies each weekend." She answered. This was an old argument.

"Last weekend you were working on the painting of that tacky old bathhouse, Chihiro-san. You didn't rest for two days straight and then you came home with a detention slip for sleeping in class." Her mother said.

"Honey," Chihiro's father said. "It could be just a phase, you know. I went through the exact same thing when I was sixteen-"

"Not the exact same thing," Chihiro interrupted. She didn't know what made her say it, but the defiance in her at her mother was too strong for her to be able to keep her mouth shut.

"Go to your room," Mrs. Onigo said in a sharp voice. "And I insist that you eat supper tonight, Chihiro. When was the last time you touched food, anyway?"

With that, Chihiro stomped up the steps and slammed the screen door behind her. She flew up the stairs to her room in a huff, and just stood there in the middle of the room for several minutes. On impulse, she went to her window, opened it, and stepped outside onto her balcony, which was well out of sight from her parents, but close enough so that she could hear their hushed murmurs down on the porch.

"I'm just worried about her, she's never acted like this before." Came the voice of Mrs. Onigo.

"I remember you being the exact same way when your parents wouldn't agree to let us see each other," Mr. Onigo's voice was teasing. Mrs. Onigo snorted.

"I was a foolish child, there's no excuse for her to talk to me like that," her mother sounded haughty.

"Do you think a spirit's put a spell on her or something?" Mr. Onigo asked quietly a few minutes later. "There _are _all those tiny little shrines down there, maybe-"

"Don't be silly," Mrs. Onigo said. "Everybody knows that a spirit can only put a spell on you if you're in the spirit world or you've been in it. I think I'd know if my own daughter disappeared into the spirit world!"

There was more silence, and then Mr. Onigo spoke again. "I've been thinking – remember six years ago, when we first moved here? How the movers said they couldn't find us for almost two months? And when we came out of the red building, our car was covered with moss and leaves, and the entire trail down there looked like a jungle? What if something happened to us there, and we didn't know it?"

A thoughtful silence preceded Mrs. Onigo's next words. "We were only in there for twenty minutes. Nothing happened, remember? We just looked around and ate, and then-"

But she cut off and Chihiro leaned closer to the edge of her balcony, trying to see her mother's expression.

"I don't remember either." Mr. Onigo said quietly. "That's what scares me."

Chihiro decided that she'd had enough. She silently crept back inside her room, shutting the glass door with as little sound as she could possibly make. For some reason, her heart was beating faster than usual, and her mind was spinning. She had the strangest feeling that she knew how the rest of the memory went, but there was absolutely nothing there in her mind to recall. That night she lay awake, thinking over and over again about that flash she got about her falling through the sky and wondering whether if it had anything to do with the old red building.

She dreamt of rivers and steaming bathtubs, green eyes and witches, star candies and flowers, trains and falling.

The next morning, she did something that she hadn't done in a long time. She wore her hair up in a ponytail with the loose ends falling around her face, and the glittering purple hair-tie was securing her hair. She had stared at it for a full fifteen minutes before putting it on. Chihiro couldn't even really recall where she had gotten it, but she knew that it was her dearest possession and if she lost it then something deep inside of her would fall apart.

Mr. Miyazaki was their group leader. He was the favorite among the students at their school, mostly because he spent most math periods telling them fascinating stories he remembered from his childhood. Now remember, these children were sixteen to seventeen years old, but his croaky old voice and shining reflective eyes captivated them all, as did the crazy tales about children their age he always told. Most students who took his class were failing all their tests.

"Hello, Chihiro-san," he smiled at her, and she bowed respectfully as she walked up to him. "I can see that you didn't get much sleep last night. Is there something troubling you?"

Chihiro looked up at him, not at all surprised by the fact that he knew. He was just that sort of person, as she had discovered in the ninth grade.

"It's just…I think I've forgotten something, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was," Chihiro voiced quietly. Mr. Miyazaki looked down at her thoughtfully.

"Do you have anything that made you think you've forgotten?" he asked, studying her closely. She tugged on her ponytail, thinking.

"Hey, Chihiro!" a cheery voice called from behind her. She turned around.

"Oh, hi Saniiro," she said with a smile that didn't feel quite so natural. Mr. Miyazaki bowed to his star pupil, and Saniiro bowed back.

"I was just talking to Mr. Miyazaki about something," Chihiro informed him. "But we can finish later, can't we?" she asked her teacher. He nodded solemnly.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," he said, scratching his silvery beard. "Once you've forgotten something you can't remember, it escapes your mind and hides itself in your life, where you see it every day but you don't know why."

They left him and walked over towards the busses, where students were already starting to line up.

"Thanks for that picture you drew me, Chihiro!" someone called from the crowd. Chihiro waved to a familiar face.

"Chihiro, do you still wanna come to the movies next weekend? Akimitsu bought the tickets, but a few more people said they were coming, so…"

"Hey, Chihiro, did you get the assignment from Mr. Otaku yesterday? I wrote it down but I can't find it…"

"Chihiro-san, magnificent job on that short story I got back from you last Tuesday, I can't even begin to tell you how amazing…

"Oh, my God, Chihiro, guess what? Yesterday I was talking to that Hisaishi kid, and he said that…"

Chihiro was swarmed by people the minute she came into sight. She spent the next half hour chatting with everybody she knew, and was distracted from Saniiro for quite a while. In fact, it was purely by luck that they managed to snag a seat together on the bus, because a multitude of people looked like they wanted her for a bus partner. She could see Haruye and Koji somewhere near the front, looking uncomfortable next to Masako Hiroshima's searing red acne and boils. She bit her lip.

"So, what were you late for yesterday when you ran off?" Saniiro asked suddenly. Chihiro, caught by surprise, told him that she was late on her curfew and had to dash off before her parents got home at four.

"Are you sure you didn't just ditch me and go down to the skating rink with Koji?" Saniiro teased, but she could tell there was anger underneath.

"According to Haruye, Koji belongs to her, since she saved him from a rabid dog in the third grade," Chihiro joked, and Saniiro's mood seemed to lighten up. They spent almost the entire bus ride trading jokes back and forth, and by the end her facial muscles hurt from smiling so much. But it wasn't until they reached the Kohaku River that Chihiro's memory sparked up.

"Hey, what do you know about the spirit world?" She asked him suddenly. Saniiro looked taken aback.

"The spirit world? Since when have you been so interested in the spirit world, Chihiro?" Saniiro asked, all of a sudden very interested.

"I-it's just something that came to mind, I guess," Chihiro answered, reacting on instinct that telling him the truth would merely make him confused. "So, do you know a lot about it?"

"My dad used to be kind of obsessed with it a few years ago," Saniiro admitted, making Chihiro feel a whole lot better. "He talked about it all the time. But I don't know if I remember everything…"

"Can humans go into the spirit world?" Chihiro burst, and then frowned, taken aback at her words. That was not what she had been planning to ask him. Saniiro seemed unaware of this.

"Yes, on occasion, they've been known to wander in. Mr. Miyazaki tells stories about it sometimes. But the spirits are harmless in the human world. They only affect nature, not people. It's only when somebody's actually in the spirit world that their magic affects them. Some friend of my uncle's disappeared for about a year, and when he came out he had some kind of spell on him that made him speak any language but Japanese. That's what my uncle said, anyway. Did you know that if a human enters the spirit world and somehow makes it out alive that the spirit magic can still work on them after they've left? It comes from eating their food or something…"

And he babbled on and on, with Chihiro occasionally nodding her head or adding "yeah," at the proper times. Even as they evacuated, Saniiro kept on talking. Chihiro was glad that he knew so much about the spirits, but something he had said made her wonder. Saniiro said that eating spirit food made humans vulnerable to their magic after they'd left. Was it possible that sometime those six years ago she had stumbled into the spirit world without knowing it? And is that why she felt such a strong pull to the old red building near the shrines? It would make sense…

They got off the bus, with Chihiro vaguely noting that Saniiro had stopped talking. Haruye came bouncing up to them, smiling brightly, while Koji sauntered up to them cautiously. He was well aware of the fact that Saniiro had a trace of an unfriendly, hostile attitude towards him, although the poor boy had no idea why. Chihiro thought she knew, as she watched Saniiro glare at Koji as he made to stand next to her.

"I love your shirt, Chihiro," Haruye said to her, completely unaware of what had happened between the two boys. "Did you pain this one yourself, too?"

Chihiro looked down at her shirt. It had been a plain old white one of her father's, which she had salvaged from the dirty clothes wastebasket the other day. She'd taken it, cut it at the collar and sleeves to make it more feminine, and hung it up to paint a large, silver and aqua dragon on the front. It appeared to be flying through the night sky, and she'd painted the background a navy blue with tiny white pinpricks that served as stars. She was rather proud of it, and smiled radiantly at Haruye as she surveyed it.

The Kohaku River was quite enormous; its width stretched out some two miles and she knew from geography class that it gushed down southward for almost forty miles. It rushed over boulders in clear blue-green torrents, making Chihiro want to close her eyes and sit there for hours. People began to line up at the water's edge, staring down into the river as if trying to look for something. There was no sign that there had been any apartments there at all. Ever since the giant flood that had came and knocked them all down six years ago, nobody had every shown any sign of wanting to rebuild them. Chihiro had heard whispers that the apartments had angered the spirit that lived there. Again, she felt that strange pull of the wind luring her towards the water, like it did to the tunnel back home.

"Ow!" Saniiro said as his sandal caught onto a stick. Chihiro looked down, alarmed, to see a trickle of blood oozing down from his heel. "Where did that come from?"

"Are you okay?" Chihiro asked, kneeling down to inspect the cut.

"Yeah, I think so," Saniiro answered, "It just – ow!"

A large pinecone from the tree they were standing under had fallen from a high branch and clunked his head. Furiously rubbing his sore scalp, he looked up at the tree and glared. "This place has it in for me – I can feel it."

"Don't be stupid," Chihiro answered, standing up again and walking back towards Koji and Haruye. "You sound like my dad."

Saniiro made to follow her, but he was distracted by the sinking of his foot into a hole and tripping, landing facedown onto the ground. A few of the nearby girls rushed to his aide, helping him up whist touching him as much as they could. Chihiro wanted to laugh and roll her eyes at the same time, but she thought that would be rude.

"Okay, class," Principal Okamoto said loudly, clapping his hands together. "Enough fooling around. Let's get to work. Who can tell me why we're here?"

A few of the tenth grade brainiacs answered while Haruye, Chihiro, Koji and Saniiro listened halfheartedly. Chihiro looked back towards the river again, loosing herself in the gushing torrents of blue-green. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, staring at the water, but she was rudely brought back to earth by Haruye tugging on her wrist.

"Chihiro, that guy over there is staring at you," she breathed in her ear. Chihiro turned around, whipping her ponytail as her eyes met with those of a black-haired boy around her age. His clothes were strange, like a uniform of some kind, and he was standing erect some two hundred yards off, staring at Chihiro with a look of shocked disbelief. She felt her eyes widen as she realized that he looked absolutely familiar.

Was it her imagination, or did the breeze that swam around them pick up? Did the river begin to gurgle more and did the water become even clearer? And why did Saniiro trip over that giant boulder a few feet away from where she stood?

"Who is that?" Koji asked in a hushed voice. "He seems to know you, Chihiro."

She couldn't answer his question, though, for at that moment Akako's snobbish voice rang out from behind her.

"Hey _Sen_," she sneered, placing her dainty hands on her delicate hips. Abruptly, Chihiro was furious.

"I told you never to call me that!" she snarled, startling several nearby people. The principal had stopped talking now, and apparently the class was free to roam around the riverbank, digging for fossils or something like that.

Akako smiled maliciously. "Oh, but I do so love the name Sen, and it's much more suitable for you than Chihiro. One character is much easier than four, wouldn't you agree?"

"No!" Chihiro yelled, and for a moment she saw red as Akako continued to chant, "Sen, Sen, Sen."

There was a painful tug at her ponytail, and the next thing she knew her hair was falling down loose around her face. She gasped and whirled around, unsurprised but slightly fearful to find Akako's boyfriend Akhito standing there, holding her glittering purple hair-tie between his meaty thumb and forefinger. He held it high above Chihiro's head, and she stepped back, not about to give him the satisfaction of jumping for it.

"Ooh, Akhi, is that for me?" Akako cooed, and fury burned Chihiro's chest as Akhito walked over to his girlfriend and dropped the hair-tie into her hand. "Look what my man gave me, Sen!"

"Give it back. Now." Chihiro said in a deathly calm voice. Akako giggled in the most irritating way.

"No, I don't think so. It's too pretty to belong in your mousy head." She shook her raven locks out of her face and held Chihiro's hair-tie up.

"Akako, give it back to her," Saniiro said angrily.

"If Sen wants it, then Sen can come and get it herself," Akako taunted. "Unless poor baby Sen is too scared of big Akako to do it."

Haruye called Akako something that is not suitable for sixteen year old girls to say in the presence of adults.

"Aww, the sidekick's feeling cranky." Akako said, fake sympathy oozing from her voice. "You know, maybe I don't want this thing if it's been exposed to losers like these. Akhito, get rid of it for me, would you?"

The entire time, Chihiro had been silent, but as Akhito moved towards the low bluffs and stretched his beefy arm out over the side with her hair-tie dangling over the side, she let out a cry of "No!"

Her tone of voice must have been so desperate and sad that it stopped Akako's goon in his tracks. Even Akako herself looked interested.

"What's the matter, Sen? You've had this wretched thing ever since you moved here. Surely you're sick of it by now?"

"You're terrible," Koji said quietly. Akako looked surprised. It was common knowledge that she had long nursed a soft spot for Koji, and Chihiro and Haruye had often teased him about this. But now, as he watched her with a look of utter dislike, her composure slipped and her face fell.

"Can't you see how much that thing means to Chihiro? What's wrong with you, taking her things like that and threatening to throw them in the river? Can you not see the way you're acting right now?" Koji continued, and Haruye, Saniiro and Chihiro were all looking at him with newfound awe. Akako was frowning unhappily at him, but she regained her mask of proud haughtiness as she tossed her glossy black hair behind her shoulders.

"Unfortunately, I don't work like that," Akako said, and then, turning towards Akhito said; "Get rid of it."

It was almost like in slow motion for Chihiro. She saw the glittering purple hair-tie wink at her from the edge of the water as it slipped from Akhito's fingers. With horror, she watched as it dropped downward and disappeared from view into the water below. Without pausing to think, Chihiro pushed away from her little group and ran at full speed towards the banks. On impulse, she hurled herself in after it, much to the terrified protests of all the onlookers. She could hear shrieks and screams behind her as she dived downward, but she wasn't afraid. It was only as high as the high dive at the local YMCA. The only thing that was on her mind was to get back her hair-tie.

The water was freezing as she plunged in head-first, but the moment her entire body was submerged, it was like a warm woolen blanket had been pressed around her, and she felt extremely comfortable floating in the clear, warm river water. But what was odd was that the current wasn't dragging her away. On the contrary, it seemed to be holding her securely in place, making sure she didn't wash downstream away from her classmates. All that was vague in her mind, however, as she couldn't see the glittering purple band anywhere under the water.

The need for air was too strong to fight anymore, and the water seemed to sense this. Almost like hands, the currents swept her upward, and she fell, coughing and spluttering, onto the shore. Koji and Saniiro came running for her, while on the shore Akako stood frozen and Haruye was watching with her hand over her mouth. Chihiro looked around, but nowhere could her purple hair-tie be found. Tears, hot and salty, formed in the corners of her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, and when Koji came with Saniiro not too far behind, she pressed her face into his dry shirt and began sobbing.

She had no idea why she was bawling over the loss of her hair-tie, but she didn't care. That souvenir had been her most treasured possession, and now it was gone forever. She could feel Koji awkwardly patting her on the back, while Saniiro fluttered over her helplessly. All the students on the field trip were crowding around her and calling out things like "Chihiro, what happened?" "Chihiro, are you okay?" "What'd you do that for, Chihiro?" Haruye pushed her way through the crowd and kneeled down at Chihiro's side, taking over for Koji. She stroked her hair and rubbed her back, making soothing shushing sounds as Chihiro kept weeping. She was vaguely aware of somebody calling an ambulance (do they have those in Japan?) and being strapped into a chair with a bunch of blurry faces.

"She keeps saying, 'my pink shoe, my pink shoe." An unfamiliar voice said.

"I thought she jumped in after a hair-tie," another strange voice answered. She heard somebody shrug, and the next thing she knew she was lying in the middle of a white room while people in white coats hovered over her, talking in hushed voices. It wasn't until the next day when she fully awoke to see her mother and father sitting beside her in a strange bed. Chihiro looked around and realized she was in a hospital room.

"Oh, honey!" Mrs. Onigo cried, and she threw her arms around her daughter. "Baby, I'm so sorry I yelled at you the other day, you know I only did it because I love you, right? I love you, I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Mom?" Chihiro asked, still slightly confused.

"What made you want to go and jump into a river for?" Chihiro's father's voice asked. She looked at him; his expression was slightly amused but mostly relieved and concerned.

"What happened?" Chihiro asked, still slightly confused and drowsy. "Oh, the river…"

It was all coming back to her now. She sat there for a while as her mother sobbed over her and her father watched her intensely. Blinking, she sat up. "I guess I just wasn't thinking," Chihiro answered sheepishly.

By the time they got her home and in bed again, Chihiro was wide awake and thinking. She could remember everything so clearly. The warmth of the water, and the way the currents seemed to protectively wrap themselves around her and lift her up to shore…where had that happened before? It seemed like such a long time ago, yet the image of a small pink shoe floating down a rushing river flashed in her head and she groaned, laying back down.

Inexplicably, she thought of the boy. The one who had been watching her so intensely. What was it about him that had seemed so familiar? She lay awake the entire night again, mulling things over in her mind, mourning over the loss of her beautiful glittering purple hair-tie. When morning came she was already up and at the table, eating breakfast. Her mother seemed very surprised to find her there.

"Did you at least get to read all your get-well cards?" Mrs. Onigo asked when she heard how her daughter had spent the entire night. Chihiro looked up.

"What get-well cards?" she asked. "I was only gone for a day – surely nobody would have time to give me a get-card in that time?"

"You'd be surprised," Mrs. Onigo said grimly, and she walked over to the trash bag that Chihiro realized a few seconds later was not trash. The entire thing was stuffed to the brim with colorful cards, each and every one of them bearing the logo; get well soon, Chihiro! She stared at her mother, amazed.

"I'm glad you're so popular, Chihiro-san," Mrs. Onigo laughed. "But really, I'm glad that you didn't die, otherwise I might have had an entire mansion filled with grieving letters!"

Up until school ended, the entire day was unbearable. People she didn't even know kept coming up to her and pestering her endlessly about the previous day's events. It grew so bad that Haruye had to drive everybody off by saying that they had to go and visit Ms. Maitsu. Everybody absolutely loathed her from the immense amount of homework she piled on them every day, so that sent all her well-wishers off quite nicely.

Chihiro couldn't help but notice that Saniiro was looking at her in a different way. Like she was going to shatter into a million pieces right at that moment. She didn't mind, however. The only part that bothered her was how he seemed to hound her like her own personal watch dog. She tried explaining to him that it was her own fault she had jumped into the river, and he shouldn't be worrying about her like this, she was fine now. But he just looked at her and kept tailing her. Chihiro managed to shake him off by venturing into the girl's bathroom with Haruye.

"I'm just glad you're okay, Chihiro. What was so important about that little hair-tie anyway? You jumped after it like it was your own flesh and blood." Haruye said while applying a thick layer of mascara.

"It might as well have been," Chihiro muttered in response. "You know how much I loved that thing."

"Yes, but you've never told me _why_." Haruye said in an exasperated tone. "Did somebody important give it to you?"

She turned from the mirror to find a teary-eyed Chihiro looking down at the floor.

"I don't know!" Chihiro wailed, burying her face in her hands. "I can't remember! I know it was special, that's why I've kept it, but I can't for the life of me remember where it came from! I feel so awful, like I've gone back on a promise or something."

The two girls stayed inside the bathroom the entire rest of the school day, with Haruye shrieking at anybody who poked their heads in the doorway. Four of them were guys.

When the bell rang, Chihiro and Haruye snuck out with the crowd, avoiding the searching eyes of Mr. Okamoto. That was when things began to really get interesting. The girls were strolling down the sunny street with their arms linked, when all of a sudden they both looked up and saw a boy standing there. Chihiro's heart sped up when she recognized him as the one who had been there yesterday at the river. He stared intensely at her, his green eyes searching hers, and then he wordlessly walked up to Chihiro, moving his face very close to hers. Startled, Haruye let go, but Chihiro remained where she was, slightly disturbed by how comfortable she was with him doing this.

"You looked back halfway, didn't you?" the boy whispered. His voice was very beautiful and very familiar as well. "That's why you can't remember anything. Or can you? Do you know your name?"

This seemed like a very strange question to ask somebody off the street. Drawing herself up to her full height, she looked back at him with what she was sure was a blazing expression. "Of course I do! I'll guess that you know yours too?"

The boy seemed pleased, although that didn't make any sense at all to her. "Thanks to you." Then his eyes traveled downward and rested on her midriff. He laughed. "I like your shirt. And I think I have something that you're looking for?" And he began rummaging in his pockets. Chihiro and Haruye exchanged glances.

"At least you waited until you got out of the tunnel to turn back. Otherwise you would have forgotten entirely." The boy sounded cheerful. "That's why you've kept this all these years, am I right?" He held up her glittering purple hair-tie. Chihiro and Haruye both gasped.

"Where did you find it?!" She asked, inspecting it. It really did seem to be hers; she'd never seen another one that glittered like that.

"Floating downstream on the Kohaku River. You really should be more careful, Chihiro, if it was any other river I think you would have died. But then again, you have a habit of falling into things you're not supposed to, am I right? I'll see you around." And he began to walk away.

"Wait!" Chihiro called, grabbing his arm. The boy turned around. "How did you know my name's Chihiro?"

That seemed to be very funny to the boy, but he held in his laughter long enough to answer her. "I told you before; I've known you since you were very small. Don't worry, you'll remember in time."

And just like that, he seemed to vanish. Chihiro turned to Haruye, who stood frozen on the sidewalk, staring disbelievingly at the spot where the boy had just been. Stunned, Chihiro opened her palm, and there, sitting in the middle of her hand, was her glittering purple hair-tie.

So what just happened had been real.

"Maybe he was a spirit of some kind," Haruye said later at her house. They were reclining on beanbags in Chihiro's room, and Chihiro was dangling the hair-tie in front of her face, staring at it.

"Maybe, but what would a spirit want with me?" Chihiro asked, twirling her hair-tie around her finger. Haruye shrugged.

"I recognized him, Haru," Chihiro whispered. "He was at the river the other day, the one that was watching me. But even then I recognized him. I don't know how I know him, but he said that he knew me."

"Did you ever have a spirit boyfriend or something?" Haruye asked.

"I don't know," Chihiro said, gazing off into the distance. "I never told you about when I first moved here, did I?"

"All I know was that it took, like, two months for you to show up after the movers came," Haruye said.

"Yeah, my dad went on a detour, through some weird little path in the woods." Chihiro said, looking up at the ceiling. "And he made us get out of the car and look around. We went through the archway of a run-down old red building, and that's the last thing I remember before coming out to find everything outside overgrown. And then this thing showed up in my hair," she shook the glittering hair-tie at Haruye.

"Maybe you went into the spirit world or something," Haruye said, looking at her with great interest.

"Saniiro said that it was possible." Chihiro said, sighing. "And what did that guy say today? That I looked back halfway? What does that mean?"

"I say that you go find him and ask him," Haruye laughed, twirling her hair.

Chihiro's eyes widened and she sat up abruptly, looking at her best friend like she was some kind of goddess.

"That's it!" She exclaimed. "I'll go find him! Maybe he's part of what I can't seem to remember! Oh, you're a genius, Haruye, thank you! I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Wait!" Haruye cried, jumping up and grabbing Chihiro's wrist. "Where are you going, I was only joking!?"

"But don't you see?" Chihiro asked, her eyes bulging. "That boy – he's the one who has all the answers, I know it! He looks so familiar; I know I've known him before. I think he can tell me what I can't remember; he was there when it happened. That's why he knew my name. That's why I keep having those dreams, that's why I keep painting all these things I've never seen before, that's why I have this!" She held up her hair-tie.

"Chihiro, tell me you're not serious," Haruye whispered, but she could see in her friend's eyes that she meant everything she said.

"I'll see you later, okay?" Chihiro told her, and she rushed to her closet, grabbed her coat, and ran out the front door.

The night air was crisp and fresh. The sun was climbing downward behind the trees, and vivid pastel colors painted the horizon. She could hear crickets beginning to chirp, and the slow rumble of cars filled the air.

She began to walk downward towards the bottom of the hill. Her previous destination had been to walk all the way to the Kohaku River, but again she felt the pull of the wind, guiding her down to the pathway with the shrines. This time, she followed it eagerly, running downhill as fast as she could until her feet hit level ground. Chihiro stood as still as a statue for a few moments, and then she slid the glittering purple hair-tie out of her pocket and tied up her shiny brown hair into a ponytail, with her bangs hanging down into her eyes. She took a deep breath and began to follow the breeze, which seemed to lead her on deeper into the forest.

It seemed to become darker as she walked, but for some strange reason, this only made Chihiro seem more reassured. She walked for quite some time, all the while thinking to herself, _I'll find it here, I'll find it here. _It wasn't until she could see the statue up ahead that she sped up. She peered into the archway as she came to stand next to it, and to her astonishment, she could see the twinkling lights of a city reflected in a vast river. Gasping, she walked all the way to the entrance, but she still couldn't find it in herself to set foot across the doorway. The wind began to pick up even more, and she could feel it pulling her in, trying to lasso her through the old red building.

The faint sound of a train rang through to her, and her heart sped up as she recognized it. She saw a flash of her ten-year-old self sitting on it, staring at the window. Her mouth fell open as the memory came flooding back to her, and she dug in her pockets for the train ticket that miraculously still sat there, waiting. She gaped at it, running her fingers over the punch-holes, and smiled, knowing now that if she stepped inside the whole thing would be made clear.

"You've made progress," Came a voice from behind her. She turned around slowly, her bright brown eyes scanning the darkness and landing on a figure directly in front of her.

"Haku," she whispered, walking slowly over towards him. She didn't know how she knew it, she just did. The name seemed to come up from deep inside her heart and creep up out through her lips. The boy named Haku smiled, and took her hands in his. It didn't even seem to surprise her how wonderfully familiar that felt. Nothing seemed able to surprise her anymore.

"It's all coming back to you, isn't it?" Haku asked, interlacing their fingers. Chihiro smiled.

"Being here…I can make something out. I feel it coming." She said, looking out towards the stone red building.

"We've all missed you, you know," Haku said softly. "You really made a difference while you were here."

"I can't explain it, but I know I've missed them too. I have no idea who you're talking about, of course, but I think that's what's been making me come down here so often. Why didn't you ever come and see me before?" Chihiro asked as Haku led them towards the entrance.

"When you left, I told you that I couldn't go any farther than the spirit side of the river in there." He gestured towards the smooth glass river through the tunnel that reflected all the lights of the city. "The same went for all of your friends. It took a lot for me to be able to go back home."

"Home," Chihiro muttered, and then gasped. "Home! The Kohaku River! Of _course_; you were the one who saved me! You're the spirit of the Kohaku River!"

Haku nodded, his eyes shining. "You helped me get my name back, Chihiro. I owe you everything."

They stood like that for several minutes, staring hungrily into each other's faces. She could feel it all coming back to her now, welling up from deep inside her. All her memories of her journey through the spirit world came sweeping over her, and she could feel her eyes filling with tears. Without warning, she threw her arms around Haku's neck, and embraced him with a long – overdue hug. He wrapped his arms around her comfortingly, rubbing her back as she sobbed joyfully into his shoulder.

"I remember everything now," Chihiro cried, smiling up at him. "They called me Sen, didn't they? _That's_ why I hated it when Akako called me that, I never could put my finger on it. And Haku, you're a river spirit! You're a dragon! And No-Face, he's not here anymore, he's with Zaniba, isn't he? What about Kamaji and Lin? (Or is it Rin?) Oh, I can't believe I forgot everything, I feel so awful!"

"You didn't completely forget, Chihiro," Haku said, taking one of her hands in the both of his and bringing it up to his chest. "I wasn't lying when I said that I liked your shirt. Did you always paint so beautifully?"

Chihiro looked down at her dragon shirt. The dragon, which she now realized she had modeled after Haku, was gleaming under the tiny rays of moonlight that reached through the canopy of leaves. She smiled at Haku, and then another question formed in her mind.

"Was that you doing all those things to Saniiro at your river the other day?" she asked, slightly creasing her brow. Haku didn't seem abashed; in fact, he seemed to puff his chest out further and tilt his chin up proudly.

"Is Saniiro his name? Blech," he grinned. "I could tell from the way he looked at you that his intentions were much too overly-friendly for my taste. I had to do something."

"You know that I'd never – even if I did forget – I wouldn't-" Chihiro stuttered angrily, and then she stopped and looked up. "You didn't like the way he looked at me?" She asked softly.

Haku's grin grew wider. "What are you going to do now that you remember everything that happened?"

"Well I can't go back now," she told him, leaning her head on his warm shoulder. "Not without you, anyway."

"And I'm bound to my river as long as it's there," Haku said sadly. Chihiro started.

"But – you're here right now, away from your home! The Kohaku River must be at least sixty miles away. How is it that you can come here?"

Haku stared at her for a long time. "You know," he said after a while. "I'm not really sure. Every other time I try and see you, I'm just sucked back and can't move. It's the strangest thing, don't you think?"

"Haku, I want to stay with you," Chihiro said seriously. "I mean it; I don't ever want to forget again."

"Even if I'm not with you, you'll still be able to remember," Haku said sorrowfully.

"But it wouldn't be the same without you," Chihiro pleaded. It was dark now, and being in the forest added an extra edge to the inky black. All that could be seen was by the glowing silver light of the moon, and the tiny pinpricks from the stars above.

"Why would you choose that life over the one you have now?" Haku asked, gesturing towards the old red building again. "I've watched you from far away, Chihiro; your life is perfect! You're beautiful, and you seem to have millions of friends, your parents love you, and you even have a crowd of lovesick boys following you around." He sounded disgusted at the last one.

"But it's empty," Chihiro said softly, looking into his deep green eyes. "There's no…meaning to it anymore. I care about my friends and family, and I love them, but there's nothing here for me. Ever since I couldn't remember what happened, I've been trying to find it. My paintings are proof," she laughed, plucking at her shirt.

"You wouldn't belong," Haku whispered, and she felt a pang as she realized he was trying to drive her away. But it grew into a million pangs per second as he raised a hand to softly touch her cheek.

"Yes I would," Chihiro answered boldly. "I'd be with you, wouldn't I?"

There seemed to be a silent battle in Haku's eyes, but she could see him relenting at her words. She gave him an encouraging smile, and she could see his face light up. Chihiro took both his hands in hers, and rising up on tiptoe, pressed her lips to his in the slightest, sweetest way.

Up on the hilltop, the vivid beams of searching flashlights pierced the darkness. Voices, faint but determined, could be heard from all the way down where Haku and Chihiro stood. They couldn't hear them, though. All that was real for them right now was the other.

"Are you ready now, then?" Haku asked gently, tightening his grip on her hand. Chihiro smiled up at him.

"I've been ready for six years." She whispered, and the both of them were quite unable to stop smiling. Up ahead, the voices were growing louder.

"Chihiro, Chihiro!" came the faint cry of Mrs. Onigo. "Where are you, sweetie?"

"Honey, come on!" called Mr. Onigo, frantically scanning his flashlight on everything that moved.

"Chihiro come back!" yelled Haruye, pointing her flashlight into the underbrush. She couldn't see anything down there.

"This isn't funny, Chihiro! Where are you?" Saniiro's voice sounded shaky with worry.

"Look!" cried Koji, pointing up at the sky. Four beams shot up to join with his, and they could vaguely make out the silhouette of two teenagers, a boy and a girl, soaring through the air, holding hands.

"It's Chihiro!" Haruye screamed, recognizing the familiar purple glitter in the girl's dark hair.

The cries of he family and friends followed her and Haku into the sky, but they were oblivious to their pleas of return. They were looking into each other's eyes as they breezed across the diamond-studded canopy, and a bright flash and a shower of silvery-white scales were all that was left of them as they disappeared into the night.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Wow. Even _I_ didn't think it would end up that sappy. Oh, well, I liked it. Haku kept his promise and Chihiro remembered and they all lived happily ever after, hooray, now go tell me how much you hated it. JK, JK :)


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